Gallerina Diaries

Anna Mikaela Ekstrand - design & decorative arts museum professional, art critic & jet-setter. Follow her on twitter. Alexandra Bregman - reformed gallerina, freelance art critic, Asian art specialist & French contemporary design professional. Request to...

[gallerinadiaries]

My Residency at El Museo Del Barrio - Part 1: what I planned vs what actually happened

Photo above  by Terrence Jennings (www.terrencejennings.com)

So the first half of my residency June to early July was just spent adjusting to having a studio. This residency at El Museo del Barrio is the first time in 12 years that I have had an art studio and I had not thought about what that meant until I was standing in the empty museum space that is a little smaller than my entire apartment, wondering "what should I do?" I quickly realized I was rusty at painting and took twice as long to install as I once had.

To be fair to myself I hadn't come unprepared. I had laid out an elaborate schedule for my residency that included themes and rules with a focus on the idea of building persona/the artist as a star.  In June I was supposed to complete a selfie station installation, have Beauty Week, host Work/Werk Week, live stream performances for Legends Week, and perform "I Carry You and You Carry Me" two evenings. And each day of the residency I was supposed to work while wearing heels and my signature catsuit by Butch Diva.  Whelp. I quickly began installing and running up and down a ladder barefoot. (I couldn't do it all in heels! They hurt and slowed me down too much!) I also cheated a few times, showing up in sweats and gym shoes to work on my residency installations that I thought I could finish by June 7th, but ended up completing hours before the opening of the Antonio Lopez show June 13th. (There was one installation  that I built and took down before the opening happened; it was too plain in my opinion)

Beauty Week went from being a whole series of daily beauty performances,  to my friend and fellow performer, Esther Neff, giving me a beauty makeover inspired by Kelis(a singer who is a true makeup adventurer) in my studio during Museum Mule Fest and continuing to work impromptu by making over the faces of other museum patrons to match the make-up on my face, while I performed "I Carry You and You Carry Me." In the end this was perfect because a couple people got piggy back rides and in the photo you can see we are were the same make up face!

Above Photo by Era Blo.

That was a great performance night. Here's the thing though, museums have like three openings for a show, not one. There is the VIP opening, the Member-only (semi-VIP opening- or tour night, depending on what it's called) and then there is a public rollout, usually held on a free evening at the museum. This meant I performed "I Carry You..." for three nights in one week, instead of the one night I originally planned for. LOL This was great for Work/Werk theme, but what I quickly realized was that labor and beauty are so intertwined in my work that separating them didn't interest me., so those first two weeks became a blur of beauty and labour which really encompassed the idea of work/werk, but is less conceptually neat than what I had written on the paper. That bothered me for a while.

That was a great performance night. Here's the thing though, museums have like three openings for a show, not one. There is the VIP opening, the Member-only (semi-VIP opening- or tour night, depending on what it's called) and then there is a public rollout, usually held on a free evening at the museum. This meant I performed "I Carry You..." for three nights in one week, instead of the one night I originally planned for. LOL This was great for Work/Werk theme, but what I quickly realized was that labor and beauty are so intertwined in my work that separating them didn't interest me., so those first two weeks became a blur of beauty and labour which really encompassed the idea of work/werk, but is less conceptually neat than what I had written on the paper. That bothered me for a while.

While my mind was spinning from how many things weren't "going as planned" the museum offered to extend my residency to Aug 20th because I fit with the exhibition running through the summer and I had created a plan that would be best executed over three months instead of 6 weeks. I said yes immediately. This was a great affirmation and opportunity! I quickly began planning for July and Aug. Now things came into focus.

Simultaneously, I began a summer camp job which lead to 12 hour days after the museum and time it took to answer emails/ do side projects for my rising art career. ( I had group shows in London, Italy, Brooklyn and Queens during this time, plusone unexpected casting call... and let me say answering questions for press interviews is no joke when you are trying to "make it" and have a lot to do.) Seeing that I was drowning curator of "Back in Five Minute" residency, which is part of a larger program entitle Office Hours(OH), NIcolas Dumit Estevez, said "You have to cancel something." (If you know Nicolas; you know the calm voice he said this in.) I listened "kinda" and Legends Week was moved to August 10th.

#SquadGoals Pose with Davis Thompson-Moss

Fast forward to now July 30th. I am moving into the 2nd week of #SQUADGOALS in my residency (because what is a dope persona without a dope squad? "You are the company that you keep" This is going amazing well.  We organizing a group performance show that took place during Uptown Bounce. It resonated well with the crowd and another is planned for this Wed, Aug 3rd. There was a performance picnic this yesterday and there will be an installation by Dominique Duroseau with a collaborative performance between her and I this week Sunday(today), Thursday, and Friday 3:30 - 430 pm.

To be honest I don't think this month is coming along well just because I have conquered (or gotten used to) my sleep deprivation or because I got an emergency grant from the Foundation of Contemporary Art (that helped but it's not the reason); the reason is that I let go. The rigid plan I had has relaxed. Surprisingly as I relaxed everything fell into place. I began working with an amazing intern. I experimented fully, even live streamed my work for the first time, during Performance Week. I fit in performances for the guards that allowed them to sit as long as I held an awkward pose in heels. My friend Davis Thompson-Moss out did me in this!! His pose was flawless. Mine, not so much.

As I have let go, new ideas have come to me and creative ways to promote my residency have evolved. Live-streaming what you do to FB is invaluable. People want to see your work and with this residency one is constantly performing for the public because your work space is at the entrance of the museum galleries.  However, people work and have busy lives so if you live stream it all even more people can be involved in your work. I have learned that if I fight the public interaction(which I did a little in the beginning of this residency), I drown. It is best to cheat and do the work that requires silence at home, then bring it for install and chit chat time at the museum. I am finding my happy medium.

I will keep you posted on what unfolds next.

_____________________________________________________

Ayana Evans is the current artist in residence at El Museo Del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Ave, NYC, until Aug 20th. Her next Performances there will be: 7/31 with Dominique Duroseau 3:30pm-4:30 pm, 7/3 (group performance show, part of Uptown Bounce!) at 7pm, and 8/4 with Dominique Duroseau 3:30 pm -4:30 pm, 8/5 with Dominique Duroseau 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm, and 8/6 with Lisette Morel (outside, front of museum) 11-1 pm.

[gallerinadiaries]

How to Correctly Write About Performance Art

Photo of Performance Artist, Nyugen Smith

I'm going to be arrogant enough to write this because I am TIRED of watching as performance art is halfheartedly investigated. There is some sloppy performance coverage happening. LOL or not happening at all. This category of art is rapidly becoming popularized and the documentation of it is not keeping pace.

Why is it that I see writers go on and on about a performance work without speaking to the artists? If it were a painter a studio visit would be in order. Performance art is more direct and deserves a more direct approach for its review. And please know that cruising performance on the internet is not full investigation of the work, unless of course you are going to write about how a piece lives on the internet, not what you think it is in real life.

I need writers to get smarter about writing about friends whose work as well.  especially the pieces they have not seen. YES, you have seen your friends work many times before but let's not get lazy and write about an experience you didn't have just because you want to promote your friend. And on the reverse end of that lets write about work that is of interest regardless of friendships. Write about a performance scene that is outside of your normal aesthetic. Visit that scene regularly. Delight as you watch artists make breakthroughs in their work. Learn and judge the entire body of work not just the one piece.  And I know this last one won't always be possible but I think it should be the ideal.

And if you did not see all of the work, you didn't see it. I don't care of it is durational. Don't write about it as though it has been fully investigated but you only saw the first half. No one reviews half of a painting. (Although that would be fun to see!) Perhaps time won't allow a writer to give 3 hours to viewing one piece. Acknowledge that you only saw the first half when you write about it.

Lastly, I need the writers of performers to become a little more savvy regarding artist documentation. Stop being seduced by a good photo. Sometimes the documentation is better than the actual work. experience the work in person. If it holds up t the photos great. If it is better than what is depicted in video/photo documentation, even better.

Let's set the overall bar higher for the coverage of this genre.

Editor's Note:  online publications getting it right--aside from us of course-

http://www.performanceisalive.com/

https://panoplylab.wordpress.com/

http://incidentmag.com/

http://maw.guru/steak/

[gallerinadiaries]

Modes of Exhibiting African Art: African Perspectives at The Armory Show

The Armory Show is the cornerstone of Armory Arts Week presenting 205 major galleries from thirty-six countries. There was, as always, a wealth of visually pleasing, interesting, and downright great art to be seen at the fair – but the highlight, in my opinion, was the African Perspectives section.

Richard Prince It’s All Over (2008) and two Vanuatu Figures. Photo: Venus Over Manhattan. 

In our post-colonial world the approach tends towards understanding African artistic production out of a western, or in conjunction with a western perspective. This is illustrated by several recent exhibitions. Kongo: Power and Majesty at The Metropolitan Museum of Art was hugely popular showcasing artistic production in Congo from the first point of European contact in the 15th century through the 20th century – In addition to the fifteen Mangaaka figures on view, missives, ivory oliphants sent to the Medici family as diplomatic gifts, and cast pieces with Congo Christian motifs illustrated the shifts of power and influence between Congo and the West. Contrasting this attempt to write a new historical narrative of political interconnection and exchange the Upper East Side gallery Venus Over Manhattan exhibition Fétiche instead unmasks exoticism by juxtaposing work by modern and contemporary artists like Alexander Calder, Maurizio Cattelan, Richard Prince, and Andra Ursuta with the historic African works, popular as collectibles, that influenced their artistry. I was especially struck by one fast and loose but visually striking juxtaposition prominently placed in the exhibition space; It’s All Over (2008) an ink jet print, acrylic and collage by Richard Prince depicting a ritual-like scene featuring, among others, a bound women in the foreground flanked by two Vanuatu grade ritual figures. Signifying both erotic and intercultural fetichism. A third mode is found at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair that strives to represent the multiplicity and diversity in African Contemporary art. The fair that is named after the fifty-four countries that form the continent had their inaugural exhibition in New York during Frieze week in 2015. It is safe to say that African Art, both historical and contemporary, is trending on the New York art-scene.

Ato Malinda in the Armory Focus section. Photo: Courtesy CIrcle Art Gallery.

The Armory Show’s Focus section, African Perspectives, like 1:58 highlights artists from Africa and the African diaspora investigating international artistic production from an African viewpoint. Afro-futurism, the anti-colonial struggle, collective memory, and belief systems are common concepts in Kapwani Kiwanga’s work, the fairs commissioned artist. Kiwanga was born in Canada but is now based in Paris. The Secretary’s Suite, a documentary style single-channel video installation references New York as it is set in a 1960’s United Nations conference room but explores global politics by investigating modes of gift-giving. Ato Malinda’s videos explore the African diaspora and queer aesthetics through narrated video and portraits of herself. Circle Art Gallery, her Nairobi based gallery, exhibited the work in a non-conventional black box enhancing the performativity of the work. Nengi Omuku’s eye-catching paintings at Omenka Gallery, based in Lagos, feature iridescent landscapes and hybrid beings suspended in the picture plane. They are political representations of transformation and an illustration that things are not always as they seem. The Armory’s own catch phrase “from Lagos to London to Luanda” runs true as the section’s fourteen galleries presented art from African artists based around the world.  

Nengi Omuku, Boys Follow Me (2016). Photo: Artsy

With international art fairs becoming the major venue for contemporary art sales a drawback is that the work on offer streamlines. As a respite from the high-priced statement pieces that are staples of the globalized market – Candida Höfer, Katharina Grosse, Lucio Fontana, Kehinde Wiley, Yayoi Kusama and many more - the works in African Perspectives, Armory Presents (showing emerging galleries), and other similar initiatives at other fairs are instrumental in showing diversity and the parallel global narratives present in contemporary art production.

- Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

[gallerinadiaries]

When Cultures Clash, New Worlds Take Shape: Mi Ju

A Conversation with Korean-born artist Mi Ju. 

Family Portrait, 2015. Image courtesy Gallery Poulsen. 

I first met Mi Ju, a South Korean-born painter, three years ago at an Open Studios event. I was awestruck by the world she depicted in her intricate paintings. Not only did she visually meld subject matters like flora and fauna with animal and insect-life, religious symbolism, and the supernatural in her paintings, but her work was, and still is, also a juxtaposition of Eastern and Western cultural elements. In lieu of seeing her solo-show in Denmark, she invited me to her Long Island City studio to preview and talk about the work; we discussed assimilation, migration, the craft of painting, nostalgia felt for our home countries, and how she deals with being a young artist on the rise.

As Mi Ju walks me up to her studio in a studio-complex, she tells me that she is amongst the youngest artists there. Long Island City is an area popular for the arts – MoMA Ps1 and SculptureCenter are just around the corner. With representation by two major galleries – Freight and Volume in Chelsea, andGallery Poulsen in Copenhagen – it is only fitting that Mi Ju works out of an established neighborhood.  The studio is neat. It's furnished with a couple of tables, chairs, and a bookshelf stacked with books on science, art history, and, to my surprise, children’s books. It is funny how the objects artists collect in their studios migrate into their work. As I flip through Where’s Waldo and the stylized puzzle books that follow the same color scheme as her paintings, she tells me that she doesn’t paint from shapes but from colors. Taking a cue from psychosomatic medicine, I would say that she paints from an emotional place rather than cerebral.

Mi Ju arrived at Pratt as a figurative painter who had already found her mode of expression. She felt like an outsider in the program that emphasized the conceptual and encouraged students to work across mediums. Her eyes shine bright as she flexes her hands and says with conviction: “I will paint until my fingers don’t work.” It can take up to four months for her to finish one painting, and she often works ten hours a day. Her regimented, self-disciplined working style is a product of her experiences in the Korean school-system as both a student and a teacher. She had a short stint working as a high school art teacher, teaching fifteen classes a day. Thus, her artistry strongly debunks the myth of chaos birthing creativity and passionate expression. The career of an artist, like that of a scholar, is often isolated. During the Ming Dynasty, Chinese scholars gained prominence in society not only as specialists in the classical rites, but also as philosophers, playwrights, and poets. Like theirs, Mi Ju’s work delivers insightful societal analysis.

Friday Feast, 2015. Image courtesy Gallery Poulsen. 

Yellow Cocoon – her solo-show in Copenhagen – deals with beginnings and biological introspection. Mi Ju's parents have clearly influenced her mode of expression. Her advanced interpretations of nature stem from frequent exposure to the floral world – her mother is a florist. And, her father runs a textile company; the flat quality of her paintings can be compared to printed textiles. Another source of inspiration is Gaia Theory, which suggests that organisms co-evolve with their surroundings. Perhaps Mi Ju’s attraction to Gaia Theory is a tool for her to understand and create a sense of warmth and belonging in America. Friday Feast, a rectangular acrylic on canvas with thread and cut paper, and measuring more than a square meter, is a family portrait – two wide-eyed parents protect a child who looks up at them admiringly. Red lacquer bowls, brimming with food, float on the canvas's lower registry. A multitude a small figures adorn the piece. Although the title promises a feast, I detect melancholy in the child-like figure; the flower stem on the right is reminiscent of a tear. Mi Ju tells me that she misses her family, which is clear in her work. In Family Portrait, on view at PULSE Miami, a family of five are depicted, four stacked on top of each other whilst the fifth is disconnected. I wonder if these vibrant paintings are a precursor to future projects in Korea.

Mi Ju’s perception of art is as something fluid. She is fond of the African-American fabric sculptor Nick Cave whose popular sound suits bear resemblance to African ceremonial attire. He once complimented her on her outfit, she tells me modestly. She does not value one art form over another – a sentiment more common in Eastern than Western art-making traditions. An approach that lends itself well to the design work that Mi Ju is interested in approaching is textile or toy design, maybe in collaboration with her father. Judging by the expertise in which she carries out her visions in paint, seeing them in 3D will be mind-blowing.

Shoo-gah, 2015. Image courtesy Gallery Poulsen. 

The American painter Peter Saul – who delivers succinct political satire in bulbous, gruesome cartoons – inspires her. Both artists produce snapshots of cultural phenomena. Mi Ju has experimented with a new format of smaller paintings, beneficial for collectors with thinner wallets. Shoo-gah’s composition resembles Chinese Shan-Shui – paintings that are vehicles for philosophy, often depicting mountains and water. Both Mi Ju’s Eastern past and her Western present dictate the iconography of the compelling image. It portrays a lone Native American, victoriously reaching towards the sky atop a mountain that has dolphins for brain cells, grasping what looks like a hand puppet. The German Art Historian, Hans Belting, advocates Global Art: an art that is contemporary, a counter movement of regionalism, and void of the universal context that is prevalent in modernism. The key to deciphering Mi Ju’s work is approaching it from a multicultural perspective.

We spend a fair amount of time speaking about the refugee crisis that has hit Europe like a slap in the face. Opinions differ among legislators, the public, and nations; some countries, like Sweden – my home country, and Germany are pulling more weight than others. Now, security measures have been implemented on the boarder between Copenhagen and Southern Sweden to deter refugees. This has resulted in severely decreased mobility for the many that live in one country, but work in the other. Sadly, rising Islamophobia, rather than more productive discussions on how to transform refugees into a functioning work force, draws media attention. We both believe that the world must aid the millions of Syrians currently displaced.

Whether or not the visitors of Mi Ju’s exhibition in Copenhagen perceived the issue of migration featured in her work, it is there to be absorbed: consciously or sub-consciously.  Mi Ju’s works are, in this context, a societal intervention – utopian visions – proof that when cultures clash, new worlds take shape.

This article was commissioned for Artterritory.

The exhibition Yellow Cocoon was on view at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 15.01 and 22.02.2016. For more information about the works on view, see their website,www.gallerypoulsen.com.

- Anna Mikaela Ekstrand

[gallerinadiaries]

TO DO LIST: performances and talks on our radar this month

Huisi He pictured above, New Years Eve performance 2015.

Thursday, Feb. 18th - Performancy Forum at Panoply Performance Laboratory (PPL), 8 pm, 104 Meserole St, Brooklyn, New York 11206. Performancy Forum is a special performance series that encourages new experimental performance and well as audience dialogue. (HINT: Curators this is where you go if you don’t know how to find new performance artists, but what to add performance to your programming.) This Performancy Forum has an extra sweet line-up. Featured artists are:   

HUISI HE DAVID IAN GRIESS SARA DEBEVEC JON KONKOL EMILY OLIVEIRA

Thursday, Feb. 18th - 6:30pm -8pm,  Afripedia,  Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, New York 10037.  Afripedia is a docu-series and a visual guide to art, film, photography, fashion, design and music.

Friday, Feb. 19th - LUXXXURY LOUNGE RETURNS,  28 Locust Street, Brooklyn, #405, 8pm -12am. Sound and performance works by:

BRANDON LOPEZ CORNELIA BARBER BUTCH MERIGONI SHAWN ESCARCIGA VERY LIKELY A SPECIAL GUEST MAYBE WHO KNOWS I DON'T KNOW -organizer’s words not mine.

Pictured above artist Hector Caronge

Saturday, Feb. 20th -  LiVEART.US at the Queens Museum,  New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 3 pm. This is a new Performance Art program, which premieres this Saturday. Another good line up. The NYC art scene is priming us all for Performa.  Invited artists: Martha Wilson -yes, THE Martha Wilson who runs Franklin Furnace, Bobby English Jr., Heeran Lee, Honey Jernquist (Honey McMoney), Veronica Peña, and Jacob Cohen. Organized and curated by Hector Canonge.

Monday Feb. 22nd -Theater Talks: HUGHIE with Forest Whitaker,  6:30pm -8pm,  Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, New York 10037

Tuesday, Feb 23rd - SalON!: Dollars for Dreams, Silent Barn, 603 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11206, 8:30 pm  

Featuring: Lorene Bouboushian & Ayana Evans (perf0rmance arteests) Bubba (parrhesia) Sarah Graalman (st0re re-teller) Emma Reaves (theateringish) Abby Entsminger & Seth Timothy Larson (theatery stuffs) Walter Woldarczyk (this weird month in ph0tos) Brian Fiddyment (c0medy lizard) Dale Buchheister (fo0od by decadant dale) Peter Mills Weiss (her0)  

UP NEXT: Of course starting March 1st - 7th Spring Break Art Show (my fav for odd performance findings), Volta, and the Armory will be in full swing... Get ready for an art overload.

[gallerinadiaries]

Have You Heard of Esther Neff?

Esther Neff is one of the secret (or not so secret, depending on who you talk to) forces in the performance art scene in Brooklyn. Neff co-founded Panoply Performance Laboratory(PPL) along with Brian McCorkle in Bushwick, Brooklyn ten years ago. PPL freely showcases unknown artists, as well as those who have a “name in the art world.” Neff manages to treat all persons with equal ease and interest, which has lead to her helping the early careers of the Push Pops, Geraldo Mercado, Ivy Castellanos, and more. Full disclosure: she is a big reason why I have a career today. Neff is a community organizer who uses her practice to  remove barriers. Unlike the trendy curatorial set found in Chelsea, Manhattan, Neff is part of an underground art scene that shies away from the spotlight of New York Times write ups and being seen at the “right” parties. Neff even refuses to self-label as a “curator” because what that implies is inaccurate for her work; co-collaboration as her base of operation. Neff firmly adheres to the title of organizer. I personally think she may be the best performance art “curator” in Brooklyn.

I recently was able to get this shy performance art organizer to shed some light on what she sees as the future and strengths of the now booming performance art scene in Brooklyn.  

AE: PPL just had a major anniversary, 10 yrs in action! Looking back what has excited you most about performance art and the arts organization?

EN: I'm most excited about collaborations; PPL's own practice throughout the decade has been making "operas of operations" which involve short-form and durational performances with different flexible groups of people performing collective ideation. I'm also excited about collaborative organizing projects, Social Health Performance Club, No Wave Performance Task Force, Feminist Art Group, and more informal, temporary activities. In the past years of collaboratively organizing conferences and festivals and events, platforms like PERFORMANCY FORUM have evolved as artistic practices they organize in turn organize them. The intersections between art and social organizing have always been most exciting in Bushwick and in the performance art "scene" too; it seems like performance art has gotten better at understanding how modes of production and the forms of events and exhibitions themselves become sites/situations for a nurturant and socio-ethical under commons. I like how organizing gets more and more like making art in that it becomes ideologically, conceptually, and aesthetically driven. In turn, making art has become more and more like organizing, in that performance-as-art comes to involve collaboration and entire processes of making and sharing work. (Photo below by Giannakopoulou and Riléne Markopoulou)

AE: How did you become involved in performance organization? How did PPL come to be? (I know some of the answer to this but tell as much as you can/desire for readers) 

EN: I guess I have always been "organizing" and that my artistic practice comes out of that more than anything; my mother is a food systems activist/organizer/writer and my dad works with parks and public land use, I began organizing as part of the community theater in my hometown when I was a teenager, went to a college in Michigan where labor organizing and social justice was core to student culture, etc, it's really in my bones. 10 years ago in NYC though, PPL was operating more like a theater company, making devised "documentary" type work. When (co-director) Brian McCorkle and I moved into this co-operative building called Surreal Estate we were influenced by the older artists and activists living there. We began making public performances and performance art and also organizing shows for fellow performance artists and social performance makers. Surreal Estate was the first home for the PERFORMANCY FORUM platform. We were also influenced by Grace Exhibition Space (which opened in 2006) and the forms of anti-commodity and presence-focused work being made around us there and on the street. Eventually Surreal Estate was forcibly shut down and in 2012 PPL inherited the space at 104 Meserole Street as Spread Art, the previous organizers, relocated to Detroit. Around this time "Brooklyn International Performance Art F(estival/oundation)" or BIPAF started, a project to constructively critique how performance art was being organized in Brooklyn. The initial festival involved 11 spaces and over 200 artists with performances every day for a month. In many ways organizing as "BIPAF" has broadened my thinking to involve every aspect of organization in/as performance art. Over time, I have also become more and more grateful to be living in Brooklyn in relationship with so many strong organizers and artists; there is no time for nostalgia! The performance art renaissance of Brooklyn isn't over!

AE: Where do you think performance art is headed? if anywhere?

EN: It's interesting how so many performance artists/organizers all over the world have come to rely on certain elements of situation in order to operate for/as directly allied with performance art practices. There is agreement that de-hierarchization of the space (no stage), making sure that audiences can come and go over the course of the event, pay-what-you-can entry with $ directly to the artists, mess/nudity/participation permitted/shower available, artists less 'curated' than 'collaborating' with persons moving as fluidly as possible between witness/performer/organizer roles, practice of organizing as care taking rather than as selection, emphasis on personal relationships, and so on, are ways of defining performance art as a "discipline." These disciplinary practices are definitively aligned with theories of Black performance (see, for example, Thomas F. DeFrantz) and other theories in resistance and critical response to kyriarchal conditions. Not so long ago in Bushwick when there was almost no "mainstream art-world audience" (i.e. wealthy, white, manhattanite, academics etc.) for performance art, many of these valuable elements of situation emerged "organically," in response to conditions and as part of the lives of artists and audiences, now there is quite a bit of difference between collaborative and institutional/commercial situations for performance art, artists shuttle between situations and make our own situations when we can. I think "performance art," if it is to be defined by its forms of self-organization and direct translation of experiences and ideologies into action and forms of public event (i.e. in Black, queer, womanist ways, etc) we are heading into a lot of decisions about where ethics converge with careers and practices. It's not inherently a "bad thing" that performance art has become more popular as a form of "high art," rather I think there is an opportunity for performance artists to use what they do transform ways in which cultural agency operates.

  AE: You and Brian are both very socially active people. How do you personally deal with prejudice in art?

EN: That's funny, I always feel like I could be more active, I'm pretty socially anxious and shy, going out is hard. That's why I prefer to make other people come to my house!...in terms of prejudices though as symptoms of systemic oppressions, dealing with experiences and states of human being is what performance art largely "does:" issues of bodilies, presence, interpretation, communication, identity, and self-presentation are formally inherent in live, social situations for performance as art. In terms of prejudices which exclude, I do practice exclusion against those demonstrating prejudices, which might result in not inviting someone to perform, or even asking someone to leave a situation if they are not being respectful or if they say or do harmful things. Tight communities do ostracize and expel those who threaten safety. I also do believe that organizing has to involve active work against dominant prejudices, and I try to deal with my own biases, prejudices, and values as a person in any way I can, sometimes I learn from pretty uncomfortable conflicts and arguments. In terms of a basic definition of prejudices as preconceived judgments, underlying expectations and evaluation schemas are terrifying, I work to get them out in the open, mostly through collaborating and organizing.

AE: Laaast question-   How do you handle being both a performer and organizer? Has the action of organizing become so much a part of your art practice that you cannot have intensity in one without equal intensity in the other? EN: Thank you Ayana, that's a HUGE compliment coming from you. My solo performance practice is pretty much on the DL unless someone invites me specifically to perform (without PPL that is). I spend my late-night and wee-morning studio time writing, making libretti/scores for collaborative performance and building objects, costumes, and really enjoy working with (partner and composer) Brian McCorkle and other collaborators on most of my projects. In many areas, there is little distinction to be made between organizing and performing and yes, this is a good way of describing it; equal intensity---it's definitely a feedback loop of pressures and compulsions.  

To participate in performance art events at Panoply Performance Laboratory, visit http://www.panoplylab.org/info, to find out out upcoming events, visit http://panoplylab.org/pplspace/events or "like" the space on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/PPLSpace/ blog: https://panoplylab.wordpress.com/tumblr: http://pplindex.tumblr.com/twitter: https://twitter.com/Panoplylab If you want to embed other links in what I wrote:my own website is: http://panoplylab.org/estherneff/tumblr: http://estherneff.tumblr.com/ http://www.bipaf.net/ http://www.performancyforum.com/

[gallerinadiaries]

ARTIST PLANS FOR 2016: How to do Miami Art Week Correctly as an "Outsider”

This year, I watched friends troop off to Miami Basel with the sad faced realization that I wasn't going... again. Every year going to Miami Art Basel is one of my New Year's resolutions, and yet, I've never been. The bottom line is that I live paycheck to paycheck and sometimes paycheck to prayer, so I can't afford to go without a paid invite. Usually this time of year brings about two things: 1.) me wildly eyeballing posts on FB and Instagram and mouthing, "I wish I was there! That party looks soooo good!" and 2.) me working harder on plans for next year thinking, "Next year I will be invited to perform in Miami! I'll get paid and have to go." This year was different because there was a stabbing at Basel, not one of the smaller, nearby, but-still-good-to-be-seen-at fairs, but at BIG BASEL there was a stabbing. Glad I wasn't there for that. Additionally, this year the parties just looked like the better parties I go to in NY, not the best party I have ever imagined in life. And the bragging posts were more sparse than ever, which made me wonder: Have I missed the "Basel Heyday" already? What do my friends really get out of going?

My first conclusion: if you make paintings and sculptures, live on this side of the world, AND are represented by a gallery showing there,  it's worth going. Basel is a chance to come face to face with collectors and network with curators you may not always run with. All of this can be accomplished at a much lower cost than it will be at the other international fairs, in say Germany or Hong Kong. Miami's Art Basel is also a time to solidify that you are a hot emerging artist to be watched. This is accomplished by just being introduced as the hot emerging artist to watch. If people say it enough it becomes true. Please note that without the representation of a gallery or the help of an already famous artist to introduce you to the proper contacts, one is left to rely on the fake it until you make it strategy of crashing with a friend and looking like Bill Cunningham or the Satorialist should photograph you AT ALL TIMES. A stylish look will allow you to get photographed, which is low grade press and at that stage in the game you just want to play with the in-crowd. You also need to crash a couple parties you were not invited to.

(Above: Music Producer/art collector Swizz Beat at his art fair No Commission)

Social media is the secret star of Miami's art week. Interestingly enough, certain works look better than others on social media. Through the lens of social media Sanford Biggers's Fat Albert, Nari Ward's self portraits, Firelei Baez's paintings, and  Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari's Toiletpaper Lounge stood out on my IG feed from Miami last weekend as what I deeply wished I could have seen in person. Biggers had a video of his face down Fat Albert sculpture deflating that really was ripe pickings for a Vine. Nari Ward whose work ALWAYS  photographs beautifully in my opinion put on a show at the Perez Art Museum Miami that included, among other things, him photographed in semi tropical environments.  Sounds simple; looked amazing. Firelei Baez was at PAMM for first solo exhibition. It is well earned. Her work is at it's peak and that showed in photos online. Meanwhile the Toiletpaper lounge at Untitled fair was busting with brash images from Cattelan and Pierpalo Ferrari (two of my favs). It proved to be the perfect spot for taking a selfie. Of course this is the pure super star buzz. All the cool kids reblogged/retweeted/Facebooked their work because it looked cool. Part of why this work was so impactful online is because it is large, colorful, well lit, and looks hard to make. That all requires grant money and solid backing. This is not the broke artists marketing game plan.

Now for performance artists the whole Basel game is different for a myriad of reasons. Performers aren't making something that is for sale, so many galleries will not sink money into them. At the same time, performance is an extremely trendy in art now. Thus, leaving curators reaching for 'performance spice' and often offering zero or next to nothing in payment to the artist. Why pay the artist they cannot see how they will directly recoup the money? Performers have to be savvy enough to use those using them. For instance, get a host organization to: provide better documentation of a performance than you could afford on your own, add you as the plus one to top tier Miami events, and promote you via their PR machine, if you're into that sort of thing. The irony is a lot of performers are not into that sort of thing at all, which is a whole other article. If the performer is lucky enough to have airfare (not room and board, just airfare) covered in exchange for a Basel performance, he/she should complete additional site specific public interventions that fuel artistic criticism or provide increased social awareness. This creates buzz at Basel. Basically, leverage one semi-paid performance to fund a full outreach. The ideal situation is to be beholden to no-one at the fairs and find outside grant funding after being booked for a Miami show. This yields the most creative freedom. The superstar performers like Marina Abramovic, or Vanessa Beecroft will be paid in full and well taken care of. They bring in money so they are courted accordingly at art fairs worldwide.  But there are only about five performance artists living at that level, so the previously mentioned game plan is what most performance artists need to consider.

Finally, if you're a smart art watcher or wannabe collector go to Basel to meet artists. Buy directly from the artist when the whirlwind of the week is over. For this strategy you should spend a lot of time at the hipster/blipster parties and visit the fairs Untitled and Satellite.  One might want to sift through PULSE Contemporary Art Fair,  which will be the cheapest to buy at and the most hit or miss in terms of quality art. Art Basel and New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) are for trend spotting. Although, I find that art-world folk don't embrace this term as openly as fashion folk, it is useful when applied to art. If b buying or selling is the goal, trend spotting is helpful.  It is important to know if you are buying someone who is truly innovative or if there are ten million people making it. Just like with clothing, know your knock-offs.

That said my final conclusion is that Basel still has its perks. The days of it being good to just show up and easy to find the best party of the night  are done. Now there is lots of junk and strategy to sift through to get to the diamonds.

[gallerinadiaries]

We’re Thankful for Derek Fordjour’s UPPER ROOM

I had the privilege of viewing Derek Fordjour’s installation work UPPER ROOM earlier this month. If you have not had the chance to go, I suggest you run over there this holiday weekend. This could be the best alternative to a Black Friday fight for markdowns on already marked up items.

With UPPER ROOM Fordjour has done something that too many selling artists do not do; he has taken a risk. This installation invokes a sacred space inspired by the third floor prayer room of the Memphis home that his Ghanaian immigrant mother used to pray for her family in. As a circus/church revival tent complete with dim lighting, dying flowers, liquor bottles, fresh dirt that sinks under one’s feet, and the chatter of an NYPD police scanner the UPPER ROOM is at once personal story telling and mystical sensory excitement. What makes this a risk? You cannot buy it. It is so site specific that you cannot recreate it. It speaks directly to Black gospel heritage (The title eludes to the song “In The Upper Room,” which is most famously sung by Mahalia Jackson), which will alienate some secular NY viewers. It’s more personal than all of Fordjour’s past work, and it is not in the medium Fordjour’s audiences are accustomed to him working in.

Moreover, if you do not know Fordjour’s past work you will miss the punchline of this installation. This in itself is also a risk; a new viewer may not know what they are looking at and thus, appreciate it less than a fan of the work. Almost all elements that are shown in his previous 2D works are now surrounding you completely in the UPPER ROOM. From the idea of the deteriorating celebration to the quilted diamond shaped pieces of fabric covering the short stairs leading into the main area of the exhibition, visitors are existing in a Fordjour painting while standing in the UPPER ROOM. The circus themed setting, that seems to always be where Fordjour’s painted black cheerleaders exist, the aged peeling newspaper, and the adjusted lighting all are present in both Fordjour’s 2D work this 3D work. In the UPPER ROOM literal dirt replaces representational dirt of the paintings.  In every sense one has been dropped into a Fordjour painting and for a fan of the work this is what makes it so delightful. Greedily, I can only say that I wanted to see even more traces of this world in the gallery’s reception area. But alas, Fordjour chose to leave the viewer wanting more. Nevertheless, in Robert Blumenthal’s Gallery Fordjour gives us more than ever before to take in as far as the: smell, look, touch and sound of the world he has been creating for years. This treat should not be missed.

UPPER ROOM on view at Robert Blumenthal Gallery,  1045 Madison Avenue; New York, NY, 10075; November 4th - December 25th

[gallerinadiaries]

We are on break... BUT we are still seeing and making art! 

So glad that Alex and Anna Mikaela were able to see me perform with @socialhealthperformanceclub at the Queens Museum this Sunday.  It was a great time! More great articles soon. Xx Love you guys!

[gallerinadiaries]

Alex Geana Photography: An Overview

Alex Geana recently did me a big favor. In fact, his generosity and sincerity have gotten me through hard times more than once since I met him a little over five years ago, (geesh I’m getting old) and he only deserves the same respect from everyone he meets. Full disclosure: he is out there and amazing.

As an artist, Geana is exacting, exciting, probing and homoerotic. His still life scenes have always spoken to me the most, because even in that carefully curated stillness, his allows a trademark energy to bubble out of every scene. 

If we’re being totally honest, the food images terrify me. Never have banana peels and pomegranates looked so menacing; they are distilled from their normal context as a source of nutrients and the blocks of colors, roots, and seeds scatter across the page. How powerful, that the everyday nourishment takes on this fragmented, disparate abstraction through a deliberately disjointed lens. Maybe I’ve missed something, but my sense of the food scenes is a unique and impressionable color-block of carnage, even conjuring lines of loneliness.

Whereas the fruits and vegetables contextualize tactile textures and health, the primal nature of sexuality is instead distilled into deified smoothness. Men’s skin glows, with white faces and strong chests looking not unlike Greco-Roman marble. The fascinating dichotomy between these disparate atavisms allows for insight into humanity in an unconventional way. Geana takes the cliches of food magazines and sex-driven imagery and inverts them, so that the viewer has new takes on all that is both primal yet potentially unattainable.  

(the food and sexy man come via his blog, the beautiful car still life from his website)

Pretty amazing stuff. Geana often collaborates with corporate and fashion clients, always managing to fit everyone in. To buy works by the artist, you should probably visit his website ASAP. He has all the information and is more than happy to share. Don’t hesitate! A solo show is coming up this summer as well, so stay tuned!

[gallerinadiaries]

The Highlight of the New Museum Triennial That You Probably Missed

The best kept secret within the New Museum Triennial(NYC) doesn't even occur in themuseum. It is Luke Willis Thompson’s performance for this year’s triennial entitled “Eventually they introduced me to the people I immediately recognized as those who would take me out anyway,” a pursuit throughout New York that visitors are invited to participate in. The museum is just the starting point for experiencing a performance that elegantly offers a timely examination of racial tensions in the US, permitted voyeurism, and the institutionalized art gaze.  

Here is what the piece literally entails: As a museum visitor one is invited to follow a person on choreographed paths through the streets of NYC and into the surrounding boroughs. Each path is named for a different New York writer or artist, such as James Baldwin or Adrian Piper, but the person you pursue will not tell you this.  This person will not speak to you at all. 

On the day of the triennial press preview the performer was Justin Allen (pictured above).  I joined the small group of “pursuers” who met in the lobby and were taken on a brisk walk through the east village to Union Square where we boarded the train to the Bronx.  As we walked Allen sometimes glanced back to make sure we were still with him. Coming off the train we walked to a quiet street with a pretty white church across from our ending point.  Later it was explained this end point was where David Floyd the eponymous plaintiff from the Floyd et al vs New York used to live, with his grandmother. Thompson stated that we re-walked the 5 or so minutes Floyd did as the police followed him to her front door before carrying out the frisk that motivated his action around the case. 

Understanding this project requires research, time and walking. No lazy art goers are being courted here.

Even if one did not have knowledge of the Floyd et al vs New York  case, the act of people with enough privilege to spend the afternoon at a museum, following a black man dressed in New York city, becoming both is observer and document-er will not be lost on the participant.  Other performers for this piece are: Christina Blue and Tobi Haslett.  Each performer will take his/her visitors on a different route. Moreover, as the performer changes so will the transgressions the audience associates with the act of pursuing. This is what makes this such a nuanced piece.

Personally I found myself very comfortable snapping photos of Allen as he walked and sat on the train.  He was part of my exhibition, so it was allowed. Right? It is odd how as you walk through New York for the purpose of being in an art piece you look at everything differently. Every corner we passed, every street we crossed I looked for meaning in. Where was he taking us and why?  I was in an artistic production, so I looked at the world as if it was an exhibit, without even realizing that was what I was doing. Yet as soon as Allen informed us we were at the end and promptly turned to leave us, the bubble was broken. This was an abrupt sensory ending. I instantly stopped looking at everything as as a study. I was suddenly aware that I didn't really know where I was or what was the time. As I walked back to the train with the only person left in my group, still trailing Allen even though the piece was over, it occurred to me that I might not have even notice the beauty of the church across the street had I not been following with the eye of an art gazer rather than the eye of a hurried New Yorker (my usual point of view.)

 After speaking with Thompson it was clear he wanted exactly this reaction.  His goal is to disorient the viewer, make him/her see the world as a “ready-made” object. In this sense he is doing the reverse of placing the ready-made object in an institutionalized space. Thompson is putting the viewer in the world and forcing him/her to look at the world as he or she would a ready-made in a museum. This is a tough task but he succeeds.

The last layer of artistic pleasure that Thompson revealed he hoped to convey was the cinematic experience of watching the back of someone’s head. He’s right it is an angle I observe all the time in movies. Yet, in my everyday travels I rarely indulge I that angle, even if I did I know I would be “staring without permission” or in New York I could garner the famous “What you lookin’ at!?” question.  “Eventually they introduced me to the people I immediately recognized as those who would take me out anyway” allows for a cinematic experience while walking down busy streets.  Just as in a movie, the viewer is not sure where the next turn will be and looks intently at the “backdrop.” 

The added conversation about race relations that this work opens up is an added bonus. All too often lately I have born witness to bad “Stop Don’t Shoot” art, in response to Ferguson or other recently publicized instances of police brutality. While I strongly agree that this work is useful I also strongly believe that no matter what the subject matter is, it is the job of the artist to offer a thing of art not just political views, to engage the audience. The beauty of the work of Thompson is that it not only cleverly engages the viewer in a conversation about race and police brutality it also engages the art senses at the highest level.

Unfortunately because Thompson wants the work to remain subtle and spread through word of mouth, a lot of museum goers are missing this project.  On opening day, even visitor services seemed unclear about what the project was about and where one should stand to wait for the performance to begin. With time this has improved. My hope is that the word of mouth begins to pick up some serious traction soon. The New Museum Triennial ends May 24, 2015.  The piece is approximately one hour long however, viewers are not required to stay for the full duration. The cement marker, in front of the museum meeting spot (pictured above), makes this allowance clear.  Tell a friend to visit this project before it leaves. This performance is well worth your time.

 _______________________________________________________

“Eventually they introduced me to the people I immediately recognized as those who would take me out anyway” takes place at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. every day that the Museum is open to the public (Wednesday–Sunday). Museum Visitor Services can direct you to the meeting place where the work begins. Participation in this piece requires a metro card with a minimum of two rides.

PHOTO CREDITS: (top two) Benoit Pailley for the New Museum, (Bottom) Ayana Evans

[gallerinadiaries]

Anna Mikaela sent me a care package because she is amazing.

Thanks for that.

[gallerinadiaries]

ART BASEL HIGHLIGHTS

When Hong Kong International Art Fair (Art HK) launched in 2008 there was a debate whether or not the city could sustain an international art fair, one had been held prematurely in the 1990's.  Art Basel Hong Kong this past week was larger than ever with 233 participating galleries from 37 countries showcasing around 3,000 pieces attracting the international art set, blue-chip galleries, collectors and museum directors from around the world. Drawing a total of around 65,000 visitors. Those who were first opposed have surely been proven to be wrong.  

Only in it’s third edition the waters are still being tested. The fair was moved from May to March now fitting comfortably between Art Basel Miami Beach in December and Art Basel Basel in June – some say it was a smart move to get ahead of Art Dubai others are just thankful to dodge HK’s humid May weather. Straying from the classic Wednesday-Sunday quotidian the fair runs Friday-Tuesday. Malaysian Adeline Ooi previously VIP relations manager stepped down from her position as director of RogueArt to take over director of ABHK after Magnus Renfrew, founding director of Art HK who has been instrumental in making HK center of the art market in Asia. Renfrew is returning to Bonham’s. Many were also happy to welcome Art Central, a new satellite fair on the harbor front in Central – one of the 150 events happening in and around the fair during Art Week’s eight days.

HIGHLIGHTS

To honor the location of the fair I was especially interested in art referencing the cultural heritage of the Asia-Pacific region. I was mesmerized by a poignant series of 40 ink paintings by Chen Shaoxiong at Pékin Fine Arts, the artist methodologically recreates photographs of political expression he finds online from modern day demonstrations across Asia and the world. Ink Media #1(2011-2013). Reputable Hong Kong gallery Osage showed a 17 piece series called the Cultural Life of Wilson Shieh by the artist of the same name who created the work in his Faton studio. It depicts portraits of men that have shaped his cultural life an eclectic mix from east and west, fictional and real, historical and contemporary. Author Haruki Murakami, Ian Curtis from the Joy Division, architect I.M Pei, Taiwanese top-selling artist Hou Chun-Ming alongside the child of superhuman strength, Kintaro, from Japanese folklore and Le Petit Prince. Acquavella Galleries had the most impressive large-scale Chinese painting, Portrait 08-2-1(2008) painted by Zeng Fanzhi.

Athr Gallery based in Jeddah showcased Dana Awartani who is based between Saudi Arabia and the U.K. currently studying traditional Islamic art practice with a master in Istanbul. The drawings on view clearly reference geometric forms of Islamic art but also minimalism. A group of 15 Saudi’s had just been by the booth earlier and several of her pieces sold. “Being a woman has not encumbered me in my artistic career,” she says and tells me that the mixed gender openings at the gallery in Jeddah are usually raucous affairs, similar to western openings, minus the wine.

Hassan Sharif brought conceptual art to the United Arab Emirates in the 1980s, at a time when the country was becoming increasingly commercialized. Eight Points Angular Lines glorifies the simplicity of form, it is a wood relief evolving from hundreds of variations of subtly shifting shapes on paper, some on view at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde.  

Kwangho Lee’s copper tables with hypnotic Korean enamel table tops in the realm between natural and supernatural named The Moment of Eclipse(2014) at One and J. Gallery is design worth mentioning. The Korean designer has been showcased at Design Miami and collected by M+, Daegu Art Museum and SFMoMa. The accompanying bench clad in woven royal blue polyester was an eye-catcher. I hope to see more of his work in the future.    

It was a thrill to see Nam June Paik’s Internet Dweller (1994) at Hakgojae Gallery from Seoul, comprised of old monitors, cables and other technology it references to the history of technology. Less conceptually complex but technologically intricate are Tatsuo Miyajima’s Ikegami microcomputer installations which are all the rage, there were a couple scattered throughout the fair the largest measuring close to 2x3m Life (rhizome) no. 2 at Tokyo based Gallery Scai The Bath House.

While chatting about Patricia Piccinini’s Metaflora(2015) – a delectable merge of nature and the human body - with Melbourne based Tolarno Galleries director Jan Minchin told me that the now seasoned gallery have showed in Hong Kong for six years, during the first fair they did no business at all, at the second they sold to expats hailing from the pacific region and during 2012 their collector base opened up across the region with buyers from mainland China and Indonesia. Many galleries do not sell during their first fair but all see the benefits of pruning the Asian market.

100 Tonson based in Bangkok was the first gallery from Thailand to be admitted to Art Basel HK. Their booth was dedicated to a large scale allegorical street art inspired painting commenting on Thailand’s current political situation, the artist Yuree Kensaku is collected by Yokohama Museum and Mori Art Museum. Another booth dedicated to one single artist was London-Istanbul based Pi Artworks showing Berlin-based performance artist Nezaket Ekici, video’s, performance ephemera like a dress and photos were on view. The artist also performed Emotion in Motion during the first two days of the fair, planting lipstick kisses on select objects in the space her lips bloodied at the end of the day – at first it looks quaint then it becomes painful to watch.  

A newcomer to the fair is Paris based Air de Paris a favorite of mine, in addition to Sarah Morris, Carsten Höller and Claire Fontaine they have a spellbinding piece by Japanese artist Shimabuku on view City in the Sea(2013). What if piles of salt crystals are the blue prints of ancient pyramids? Is the question, which the artist bases his whimsical piece on. Director Florence Bonnefous tells me that the ink jet print was shortlisted by M+ acquisitions team. A state funded museum venture aspiring to become Asia’s leading museum for 19th-20th century visuals arts headed by Lars Nittve.

ENCOUNTERS & FILM

Encounters, dedicated to presenting large-scale work, is curated by Australian Alexie Glass-Kantor, proposing that we “invite possibility from impossibility to imagine another world” is one of the fairs sections. Indonesia artist Eko Nugroho’s large-scale tapestries grounded in traditional batik and embroidery styles, graffiti, street art and comics of political commentary do just this. The VIP program includes no private collection visits but as a consolation work from four prominent Taiwanese collectors can be seen at Hong Kong Art Centre’s exhibition Collectors’ Contemporary Collaboration (CCC) an annual exhibition showcasing highlights from Asian Private collections, well worth a visit.

Hong Kong Art Centre is also the venue for Art Basel’s daily Film section screenings. This year Beijing and Zurich based multi-media artist and producer Li Zhenhua has made the eclectic selection. UterusMan(2013) caused a stir of laughter and awe in the dark movie theatre. Shanghai born artist Lu Lang’s 11’20 minute film features a stylized Japanese arcade game superhero based on the female reproductive organ with superpowers (blood chain defense, blood column attack, XY chromosome attack, energy supply from placenta), weapons (baby weapon, umbilical cord whip) and modes of transport – a sanitary pad skateboard and pelvis chariot (with a deep throat chariot cannon!) to match. Lang means serious business; UterusMan is part of a larger franchise with a video game produced by Fukuoaka Asian Art Museum. Chen Tianzhou’s PICNIC(2014), a gallery space based marijuana infused drug trip and Song Kun’s A Thousand Kisses Deep were a couple other pieces with hot soundtracks, tantalizing imagery and pop-cultural references. Both artists are represented by Star Gallery, an edgy Beijing gallery that promotes young artists.

Greek artist Raed Yassin’s The Immigration Forecast(2010) were screened daily, an individual event pertaining to illegal immigration from the Middle East to Europe broadcasted in weather news format, focusing on the individuals being deported and the risks involved in crossing boarders. Another deceivingly humorous piece was EXERCISES, a spin-off of “Rajio Taisou” Japanese Radio exercises. Issuing Japans high suicide rate amongst the young and other ailments of the mind. The artist Hiroko Akada is represented by Mizuma Art Gallery, who featured interesting work by Ai Wei Wei and Indieguerilla in their booth.

This article was published by Arterritory on 18/03/2015

[gallerinadiaries]

Special: Scandinavian and Polish Art at ART BASEL HONG KONG 2015

The  Swedish gallery Andréhn-Schiptjenko has been a regular fixture at ABHK since it’s launch. “We have noticed a fast development of the audiences knowledgebase in the three years that we have participated. They are very curious and unafraid to buy art from artists unknown to them,” says gallerist Marina Schiptjenko. Unsurprisingly they had a stellar booth with regionally geared themes. Showing oil paintings by Kristina Jansson, especially compelling and rather humorous was the largest picturing Mao hunched over a desk in a large control room. It sold to a collector from Kowloon on Monday. Alongside work by Xavier Veilhan, Uta Barth and a few of Per B Sundberg’s fascinating, phantasmagorical and technically advanced ceramics, one containing a baby Lao Tse figurine.

Andersen’s Contemporary based in Copenhagen has been doing the fair since Art HK, they showed a chair with an inbuilt pendulum system, it’s front legs slowly bouncing up and down on two balloons. Created by the Chinese artist Liu Shiyuan partially based in Denmark – not only a crowd pleaser but also an interesting insight negating the fragility and focusing on the strength of balance.  A well-executed mobile by the Danish artist Kirstine Roepstorff was also on view, the naked iron is unusual for Roepstorff that often works with textile and mixed-media. Berlin and Oslo based gallery Gerhardsen Gerner were showing Per Inge Bjørlo, a challenge since the established pioneer of Norwegian installation art is little known in the region Atle Gerhardsen said to me. It is part of a grander promotion scheme, as they also will be showing the artist in Berlin in May.

Polish gallery Raster was exhibiting for the first time in the fairs Discoveries section, devoted to emerging contemporary artists. The gallery is not entirely new to the region as they have had a pop-up show in Tokyo. Sculptures by Olaf Brzeski and a series of photographs by Aneta Grzeszykowska were on view. Grzeszykowska’s series, Selfies# 1- 20, photographs of modelled body parts, are a commentary on today’s selfie culture and an interesting juxtaposition between macabre and kitsch.

Recent years have seen many blue-chip galleries open off-shoots in HK, Gagosian, Pace, Lehmann Maupin, Simon Lee, Axel Vervoordt, White Cube to name a few, among the major players is Galerie Perrotin. At Friday’s VIP opening the booth was buzzing, the gallery staff flown in from Paris and New York were on their toes. I overheard a Frenchmen on the phone saying “I think we are competing about discounts.” One of the pieces fawned over and on hold unless a higher price offered was a glazed stoneware piece by Swedish artist Klara Kristalova. Other work by Scandinavian artists up for grabs was a Karin Mamma Andersson painting at David Zwirner and London based Atlas Gallery had several analog multi-exposure photographs,printed in Tallinn, apparently very popular by Finnish artist Niko Luoma.

Although Skarstedt is based in London and New York Per Skarstedt is after all Swedish and the amazing Cady Noland mixed media work from 1986 and Cindy Sherman Film still that he brought to the fair, two high price fetching pieces by two incredible artists, are well worth a mention.

Kristina Jansson. Control Room 2, 2014. Oil on canvas, 51 1/8 x 114 1/8 in. (130 x 290 cm) total dim. (diptych). Andréhn-Schiptjenko. Image: Courtesy of the artist and the gallery

Per B Sundberg. Object with Hole, 2013. Stoneware, 11 3/4 x 9 x 11 3/8 in. (30 x 23 x 29 cm). Andréhn-Schiptjenko. Image: Courtesy of the artist and the gallery

Aneta Grzeszykowska. Selfie #2, 2014. Photograph, 27 x 36 cm. Raster. Image: Courtesy of the artist and the gallery

This article was published by Arterritory on 18/03/2015

[gallerinadiaries]

SPRING BREAK FELL A TAD FLAT BUT HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T MISS SEEING THERE

Last year, I was completely OBSESSED with the Spring Break Art Show. From the concept (a curator based fair!), to the opening (more party than stuffy art event), to the actual art (site Amani Olu’s lie detector performance for example), I was sold. This year the fair moved from the abandoned school on Mott Street in Nolita to the Moynihan Stationpost office on 31st Street in Midtown. With the move to midtown on a snowy day, the glutton of beautiful downtown people seemed to be considerably lessened on opening night this year. Maybe a blogger station, much like what Project hosts for fashion fairs, would have helped off-set this? Or possibly a PR stunt featuring several surprise performances that just “happened” to leak to the press could have turned things around? However, the party is not what is most important here. This is about the contemporary curator and his/her art of choice.

There are now more than 80 curators in the Spring Break Art Fair.  It has really grown. This is brave, but the growing pains are obvious.  Most noted, the organizers did not curate the curators well enough. They left out a few key players who would have shaken things up a bit. (See list below.) The theme of TRANSACTION was often taken too a literally, with the re-occurrence of money in art installations throughout the show and a ticket based money system in place that no one was into. (Sidebar: The photo booth should always be free on opening/preview night.)  The show’s hipster art seemed to hit one note this year. Most of it was messy and there were not enough exclamation points visually.  Then there was the problem the organizers had no control over, the problem of the dark hallways, which the Post Office did not allow organizers to alter. There were lots of spacious hallways an unexpected stairwells with no art or music in them because the PO said no to that.  How sad… and STILL, with all that went wrong, there are some stand out stars, who are worth making the trek in the cold to see: 

1. Akiko Ichikawa's “BAD KANJI”  in Room in 4100 where patrons can choose to have a “negative” Japanese character painted onto them in gold for free or buy a ticket to pay to have a a character from the positive list painted onto the body area of their choice. What's interesting here is that because the list of “negatives” is free one if likely to analyze that list for the best of the “negatives,” ultimately, choosing the character that under normal circumstances would be overlooked.  Needless to say this makes for a fun hang out station that brings to mind cultural accuracy, currency worth, and what is deserving of the label “bad.” Happening: 3:00 ~ 8:00 pm on Saturday 3/7 and 12:30 ~ 5:00 pm on Sunday 3/8.

2. Peter Gynd's “Form and Formless” in Rooms  4011 & 4013 features the work of performance/installation artist, Katya Grokhovsky and installation artist, Taezoo Park. Gynd “set out to create a dialogue between the architecture, the artworks and the exhibitions visitors.”Park's pile of electronics is seduces the viewer while Grokhovsky’s feminist installations are engaging and Disorienting simultaneously.  Her performance “Slow Dance with Me” was my favorite “transaction” at Spring Break. Grokhovsky and two other performers offered free slow dances to the audience and wore t-shirts to advertise the offering.  Katya Grokhovsky will be performing another work “Status Update” 4-7pm Saturday in rooms 4024-4026.  

3.Whitney Hunter's  ”Fantasy and the Grotesque” room exhibits Brian Whiteley's “over-sized clown sculptures, spinning paper mache mushrooms, giant ice cream cones and felt clown 'portraits'.  It also features a news cast from [Whiteley's] Greenwood Cemetery Clown performance.” This room is disturbing and enchanting.  I natural lumpiness of paper mache is a happy reminder that all is not perfect and the all inclusive treatment of the rooms installation is much appreciated.

4. Natasha Becker's  ”Found in Transaction,” rooms 4123 and 4119 shows the paintings of Mirielle Jefferson and video work of Sharlene Khan.  Becker specializes in subtlety. At A show like Spring Break her curation is easy to overlook, but if you sit with it, you will find the quiet beauty and poignancy in the work she chooses.  Note that Jefferson has sanded and gessoed her canvases up to eight times each to gain the simple uniform texture that is enjoyed in her paintings.  You are observing hours of patient layering even in the strips of color on this work.  Dig deeper and one will learn that the smaller works are painted wood with collage, a less intensive form of art making with accessible price points as low as $50 for one block.  Conversely, Becker notes that Khan's two channel screening of the video “Nervous Condition I, represents a feminist take on the ongoing implications of colonialism for a South African artist pursuing graduate studies in London.Her provocative performance is both a psychological self-examination and an investigation of the image of the “angry” and “crazy” black woman in popular media.”  This video work is not located in the same room as Jefferson but rather in a closet sized room near the stairwell. Take the time to sit in the arm-chair provided.

5. Then here are those who were not represented in the show, but produce such compelling work, that it’s recommended that readers check out what they are up to this week:  Amani Olu (yes, bring him back AGAIN to Spring Break), Larry Ossei-Mensah (another would be repeat curator), Ru Hockley, Rebecca Jampol, Jasmine Wahi, Rashayla Marie Brown, Carron Little Michelle Papillion, and Esther Neff. Let’s hope someone at Spring Beak reads this and offers an invite to these indie curators for 2016. Blind submissions are great, but if 95 curatorial slots are open, maybe personal invites should be extended to 10 - 12 organizer picks that stack the deck in in the fair’s favor.

Spring Break Art Fair Skylight at Moynihan Station (31st Street Entrance) NW CORNER, West 31st Street/8th Avenue; open March 3-8, 2015. 

[gallerinadiaries]

There has been a lot of buzz around Hugo McCloud.  He has been written about in the New York Times, W Magazine, GQ, and more.  His current exhibition Palindrome will be on view at Sean Kelly gallery (475 Tenth Avenue, NYC) until March 14th; go see it now if you haven't made the pilgrimage already.

What I liked:  McCloud has an amazing process. You can see the layers and appreciate the amount of work that went into the each piece.  I am a sucker for ample layer, texture, effort, and size in mixed media painting.  You can smell the tar and oil paint when you visit the gallery.  On purpose or not, I appreciated having all of my senses hit.

Here is what his gallery, Sean Kelly, had to say about the process behind the work: “McCloud works on tarpaper instead of canvas, enveloping it in layers of liquid tar, foil and aluminum roof coating. The surfaces are prepared on the floor, torched, painted, hammered and stamped[.]” Impressive, right?

Also, he's cute. Real cute. Yeah, I said it... It's almost comical that a lot of publications are leaving this tid bit out. There are more pictures of McCloud online than you will find of most young painter/sculptors and the number of friends who have asked me if he is single is staggering. (Sidebar: I do not know McCloud personally, but I hear he is single, so HAVE AT 'EM LADIES!) He is understandably desirable; McCloud is part owner of the ultra hip, AP coffee shop in BK (visit if you haven't already), gives good face, has tattooed muscles, and is touting the "self taught artist with a blow torch" label. That is all PR gold.

That said the "cuteness" wouldn't matter if the work was horrible. And it is good. In fact it may be great.  It is hard to make a strong abstract all black painting, but Hugo can. The ins and outs of the gloss black, matte black, metal black, etc are all made mesmerizing. These paintings are not very photogenic but whatever, can't have it all. Plus, many of his older works are.(see last photo above)

NOW, FOR THE PART NO ONE WANTS TO SAY...

What I didn't like: The show is boring. The painting upstairs all hit one note and the paintings downstairs all hit another note. The works are placed too close together and there should be a pinch more variety. So in simple terms upstairs is silver and down stairs is black.  

For selling, this is great. If one wants to buy a black highly textured abstract Hugo McCloud painting the gallery has many available, but not too many, so the market won't flood. These works will all look good in almost any chic home, office, store, or hotel. This will meet demand.  Want a silver McCloud? Same deal applies. If one wants to see an interesting show. This does not satisfy the pallet.  

Lastly, when looking at paintings, something that was often said when I was in grad school is always in the back of my mind: "If you want to make your painting more appealing: make it big, add red, layer one color." Mr. McCloud does all of the a fore mentioned tasks, so I cannot help but be aware that some easy tricks are happening here.

That said the work is undoubtedly well done. Plus, some of the most beautiful artist fashion and music folk in the city will be at his next opening, as they were at the last. Don't miss out on the good times.     

[gallerinadiaries]

RAD! Artist Rafael Rozendaal's piece Much Better Than This broadcasted on 47 screens on Times Square - check it out between 11:47 until midnight all through February.

I absolutely love him, he's hilarious. Rozendaal exhibited earlier this month at Isbrytaren in Stockholm, I attended the opening hoping to see him. The place is usually chock a block but I had arrived early and it was empty all except for a good looking man in a suit. I immediately chatted him up, he was joking about a wedding he had to attend this summer...his own! As gallerist Carl Kostyál approaches us beaming I ask if he can introduce me to the artist it turns out I was speaking to him already. I thought only collectors and Jeff Koons wore suits in the art world? Luckily Kostyál is wild and Rafael humorous so we all laughed.

The press release for the exhibition entitled On and On reads "once again staring at a screen" and showcases large lenticulars, an innovation from tthe turn of the century, shifting in shapes and colors as you pass them by and large wall projections intensified by shattered glass. Simple but on point the work directly reflects the aesthetics of Rozendaal's websites thus creating a seamless connection between technology from the past and present. A backward post internet era dialogue. I can stare at his on screen work for hours and experienced the lenticulars to be equally mesmerizing.

/Anna Mikaela